Trauma Recovery Skills 3

Trauma Recovery Skills 3

Pendulation: In somatic work pendulation refers to a movement from one state to another and then back again. We often pay attention to the shifts from a relative parasympathetic to a relative sympathetic state and then back. These pendulations often occur in small ways naturally arising from what we are experiencing. Here I will be referring to pendulations we consciously try to activate to increase the patient’s ability to notice, both within themselves as well in the environment.

These exercises are particularly helpful for those patients who struggle with noticing or the noticing concept. They can be helpful for all of us but many patients will not need them.

I want to emphasize something critical to be aware of in the Somatic Resiliency approach.

In anything we ask them to do, the patient cannot do it wrong. They can’t fail in the task and they can’t mess up. What we do is support and encourage what they can do and help them to do a little more of it.

Most of our patients have low opinions of themselves. Many already feel they are failures or have failed in life. So, psychotherapy is the once place they can’t fail. I tell patients that anything we work on or any exercise we try to do they can’t do it wrong. It is not possible because what we are doing is not about getting it right or not. It is about expanding our capacity to notice (without judgment) what is. Not all patients can connect with our therapeutic technique at the time. If they can’t or struggle too much it is us as therapists to change what we are doing.

There are two helpful pendulation exercise.

The first is as I am sitting with the patient, I ask them to notice something in the room, then tell me. Then I ask them to turn their attention to themselves and see what they notice. We do this slowly and then repeat it for a few times just shifting attention back and forth from the environment to themselves.

The second is similar but the attention shifts to noticing what is on the inside. So, I ask the patient to tell me what part of the body feels most calm. A common answer is something like, “Theres not a calm spot in body!” I will generally ask how about the bottom of your feet? or your ankle? or your elbow?” Whatever they say they attend for a moment and then, “Where in your body to you feel most anxious now?”, notice that and we go back and forth like the first one.

These pendulation exercises can be done once or for a few sessions or in every session. They don’t take much time and they strengthen shifting attention.